The Boy with the Ponytail
by Itachi's Husband
Summary: Kisame is a big kid. Itachi is a little kid. Kisame has a lot of friends. Itachi doesn't have any. Kisame wants to be Itachi's friend. [AU. KisaIta. Elementary school romance]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** For those of you who know me, I have a lot of stories that you're waiting to see continued. And I will continue them. But as I stated on my profile page, the plots for all of those stories have become so thick that I need to take a considerable amount of time untangling them and planning ahead - in short, time that I don't have right now...hence why I created a new story.

For those of you who do not know me, hi! My name is Sasori33-001 and I write a lot of KisaIta stories and am pretty good about continuing them at some point or another. But sometimes my plots grow so convoluted that I don't have the time to sort through them and end up starting new stories because that's easier than thinking about and dealing with plot. Hence this story~ :D

One more thing: There is no fem!Itachi in this story so don't let the particular diction I've used for the majority of this chapter make you think otherwise.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters; Masashi Kishimoto is the rightful creator/owner :)**

 **Warning: If do not like homosexual romance between children (not porn, mind you - innocent romance) then do not read. Plain and simple. Otherwise, happy reading! ;)**

* * *

 **-Chapter One-**

 **"The Smallest Boy on the Playground"**

11:30am was Kisame Hoshigaki's favorite time of the day because at 11:30am, lunch ended and recess started.

Recess – thirty full minutes when nobody could tell him to sit in his chair, use in inside voice, and wait to talk to his friends until recess time because it was recess. For the next half hour, Kisame could run as fast as he wanted, yell as loud as he could, and talk to all of his friends and nobody could tell him differently.

Today, Kisame was playing soccer in the soccer field with his friends. Soccer was one of his favorite things to do besides swimming but because the school didn't have a swimming pool outside, he couldn't swim during recess. If they had a pool, he would swim every day as long as possible because he loved swimming just that much. But soccer was fun to play too. When he played soccer, Kisame got to run fast and he got to show his friends how hard and how far he could kick the ball. And he was pretty good at it too. He also liked being goalie because he was good at catching the balls that came his way. And it didn't matter how fast they were kicked – Kisame could handle anything.

But today, Kisame was distracted by something he hadn't seen before. "Hey, who's that kid sitting on the bench?" Kisame asked his friend, Zabuza when the game was paused so someone could run after the ball that had been kicked onto the blacktop.

Sitting on a nearby bench at the edge of the playground was a little kid reading a book about dinosaurs that was almost as big as the kid was.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Kisame asked.

"It's obviously a boy because girls don't like books about dinosaurs!" Zabuza scoffed.

Kisame and Zabuza watched as the kid rested the book on his legs so that he could turn the page. "But it has a ponytail."

"Then it's a girl!" Zabuza declared. "Hey, look! Here they come with the ball, get ready!"

Kisame got into position as the game continued but couldn't help but watch the little girl sitting on the bench reading a book about dinosaurs. Kisame had never seen a girl who liked dinosaurs before and wanted to know if she liked sharks too, but he couldn't ask her now because he was in the middle of a game and his friends would laugh at him.

"Come on, Mangetsu, kick it already!" Jinpachi yelled to Mangetsu, who was acting as their goalie.

"Okay!" Mangetsu said, swinging his leg back and forth as he prepared to kick it from his hands. After three swings of his leg, he prepared to kick the soccer ball from his grasp only to miss and drop it on the ground.

The rest of the team groaned. "Come on Mangetsu! Ameyuri can kick better than you, and she's a girl!" Jinpachi yelled.

Mangetsu pursed his lips in frustration, took several steps back so that his back was touching the net, and with a running start, kicked the ball so hard that it went flying as fast as Kisame could kick a ball with a running start. Well, almost.

"Where'd it go?" Kisame asked.

Zabuza pointed to the bench where the girl was sitting. "Over there!" He laughed. "It almost hit that girl in the face too!"

Kisame watched as the girl closed her book and held it close to her chest as she hopped off the bench.

"Uh…" Kisame said and tugged on Zabuza's shirt.

"What?" Zabuza asked.

"Her shoe's untied, shouldn't somebody tell her that?" Kisame asked him.

Zabuza looked to his left. "No they're not! Ameyuri's not wearing shoes! She never does!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Ameyuri asked.

"Mind your own business!" Zabuza yelled back.

"No, not Ameyuri, that girl over there." Kisame said but when he turned around the little girl was gone. His eyes darted around the playground for a few seconds before he spotted her stumble over her shoelaces and fall onto the blacktop.

Kisame didn't care about the game anymore. He felt bad that he didn't warn the girl that her shoelaces were untied and now she fell onto the blacktop and probably broke her book too. And it was all his fault for not saying something sooner.

"Kisame! Where are you going? Kisame!" Zabuza yelled.

"Are you okay?" Kisame asked when he reached the little girl's side.

She shook her head. Both her hands and knees were scraped pretty good as far as Kisame could tell but the most damage had been done to the dinosaur book which lay beneath the little girl's small body and was bent in half. It was the book, Kisame decided, that was causing the nearby kids to point and whisper about what would happen when she told her teacher what had happened to it.

"Are you okay?" Kisame asked the crying girl before him.

She shook her head.

"What hurts?" Kisame asked.

With quivering lips and puffy eyes, the girl answered "my knees" before crying even harder.

Kisame extended his hand to help the little girl up and smiled when she took it. Using both of his hands, he pulled the little girl to her feet.

Immediately she pulled away. "My hands!"

Kisame had forgotten that she the palms of her hands had broken her fall. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" One of her knees was bleeding really bad, he noticed. "Your knee is bleeding." He told her. It probably wasn't the best thing to say because it only caused her to cry even harder than before when she noticed it herself. Thinking fast, Kisame said to her "I think you should go to the nurse's office." He said.

She shook her head.

"But you're bleeding and the nurse will give you a band-aid!" Kisame pleaded.

The girl sniffled as large tears rolled down her face. "My book…" She sobbed.

Kisame bent down and picked up the book. Yup. It was definitely bent in half alright, he noticed. "It'll be fine. Just tell the librarian that it was an accident." Kisame said.

"My book…" The little girl whimpered and began to cry some more.

"I really think that you should go to the nurse's office. Your book will be fine! Do you know where the nurse's office is?"

The little girl shook her head. "No…"

"I'll show you!" Kisame said and carefully grabbed her wrist so as to not hurt her hands again.

To his surprised, the girl willingly followed him, crying all the way, but not as hard as she was when she had fallen in the first place.

"Mr. Kakashi?" Kisame asked the playground monitor who was reading a book like usual.

"Hm? Did somebody hurt themselves?" He asked the little girl, bending down to her level.

The little girl nodded slightly and moved to stand behind Kisame and out of the playground monitor's sight.

"It looks like you cut yourself pretty badly." Mr. Kakashi said.

"Yeah, she did." Kisame agreed. "Can I take her to the nurses' office?" Kisame asked.

"Sure!" Mr. Kakashi said and stood up to his full height. "Do you know where the nurses' office is?" He asked.

Kisame nodded enthusiastically.

"Good!" Mr. Kakashi said and looked down at the little girl. "You're lucky to have such a good friend here."

Kisame smiled at Mr. Kakashi and led the little girl to the school entrance. And when he looked over his shoulder at the little girl, he caught her smiling too.

-8-8-8-

"Oh my! What happened?" The school nurse asked.

"She tripped over her shoelace on the playground." Kisame answered for the girl.

"Is that right?" The nurse asked with an expression of concern.

The little girl nodded.

"And what happened to the book in your hand? It looks like it took a pretty bad fall too!" The nurse commented and patted a nearby chair. "Take a seat here, sweetheart."

The girl did as the nurse said and took a seat on the chair.

"Your knees look pretty banged up, huh?" The nurse asked the girl.

The girl nodded.

The nurse nodded as well and leaned in to examine the girl's knees more closely. "Do they hurt when I touch them?" She asked.  
The girl nodded and looked as if she were going to cry again.

Kisame stood out of the nurse's way with his arms crossed like the third grader he was and said to the little girl "It's gonna be okay? Okay?"

The girl nodded and sniffled.

"Alright." The nurse said and stood up. Kisame watched her grab a large brown bottle that Kisame recognized as the stuff that his mom poured on his boo-boos that stung really really badly.

"This isn't good!" Kisame chimed and brought a hand up to his mouth to cover the smirk that was slowly taking shape.

"What's that?" The nurse asked and opened the brown bottle.

Kisame shook his head. "Nothing!"

The nurse smiled and nodded before pouring some of the smelly liquid onto a cotton ball. "Alright sweetheart, I'm going to try to clean your knees up before I put a Band-Aid on them, okay?"

"Okay." The little girl said.

"But it's gonna sting a little, alright?" She asked.

"You're doing great!" Kisame said when the nurse pressed the first cotton ball against the little girl's scraped knees.

The little girl's face scrunched up in pain and she let out a small whimper. It looked like she was gonna cry again, but to Kisame's surprise, she didn't.

"You're being so brave!" The nurse praised. "Just one more to go and we'll be all finished!" She said.

The girl's right knee was skinned way more than her left knee and was bleeding a little bit. The nurse saw that and lightly dabbed at it instead of rubbing the dirt away like she did with the girl's right knee. And Kisame could tell it hurt by the way the girl's eyes began to overflow with tears, but she did not cry and Kisame was proud of her for being as brave as she was.

"And now for a couple of Band-Aids…" The nurse sang cheerfully, peeling the Band-Aids from the adhesive strips before placing them on her knees. "There! All better!"

"She also hurt her hands too." Kisame added.

The nurse nodded and went to examine the little girl's hands. "Did you fall on her hands too?" The nurse asked her.

She nodded and cupped her hands together so that the nurse wouldn't see.

"Do they hurt?"

"A little." The girl answered.

"Can I see them?" She asked sweetly.

Reluctantly, the girl showed the nurse her hands which were just as dirty as her knees. The nurse held them in her own and examined them before stating "Well, they're not bleeding, but I'm going to wipe them with alcohol just like I did with your knees. Don't worry, it won't hurt as badly; I just want to clean them up. Okay?"

The little girl nodded.

In just a few seconds, the nurse had cleaned up the little girl's hands. "Would you like an ice-pack for your knees?" She asked.

The little girl nodded.

"Okay. Give me one moment, please!" The nurse said and disappeared around the corner to grab an ice pack.

Kisame, tired of waiting, simply looked around the nurse's office when he noticed that the little girl was pointing at him. "What's wrong?" Kisame asked.

"My book…" The little girl mumbled.

Kisame turned to look at the broken book that he set on the countertop when they came in. "I think you can just take it to the librarian and tell her that it was an accident." He said.

"Did somebody order an icepack?" The nurse said when she came back into the room and handed a small, square ice pack wrapped in a brown paper towel to the little girl. "I'm going to write your teacher a note saying that you were in the nurse's office, okay?"

The little girl nodded.

"And are you in the same class?" She asked of Kisame.

Kisame shook his head. "No." He said.

The nurse nodded and ripped the sheet of paper that she was writing on out of her paper pad and handed it to the little girl. "Give this to your teacher, sweet heart so that she knows where you were, okay?"

The little girl nodded and hopped off the chair.

"And let me write you a note for being a good friend and staying with her until she was done." The nurse said and handed Kisame a similar piece of paper.

"Ready to go?" Kisame asked the girl who nodded and hopped off the chair. He gave her back her book which she took and clutched close to her body and followed her out of the nurse's office. "Where's your classroom at?" He asked.

She pointed to the left. "That way."

"So's mine! It's all the way at the end of the hall, so I'll walk you down there, okay?"

The girl nodded and took Kisame's hand.

-8-8-8-

"Hi honey! How was your first full day of school?" Mikoto asked her son when she hugged him after school. "What happened to your knees? Did you fall down during recess or something?"

Itachi nodded.

"You poor thing." She cooed and took him into her arms. "I see you got all fixed up though! Did the nurse do that for you?"

Itachi nodded and climbed into his mother's van.

"That's good." She said.

"Guess what, mommy?" Itachi asked her once she sat down behind the wheel.

"What, sweetie?" She asked.

"I made a fwiend today!"

"Really! That's wonderful Itachi! I'm so proud of you!" She smiled.

"But…"

Mikoto frowned. "But what?"

"He thinks I'm a giwrl."

* * *

 **Until next time~**

 **Sasori33-001**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: So funny story, I wasn't planning on writing chapter two this quickly, but I was getting frustrated on a writing assignment for school and decided "fuck it" I'm writing something for ME. And thus, chapter two was born. I will say that I recently "misplaced" the flash drive that contained chapter one so if any facts are not..."consistent" with the first chapter, I apologize :( (in short - let me know if you find any inconsistencies and I will attempt to fix them asap!)**

* * *

 **-Chapter Two-**

 **"Itachi Joins the Game"**

The next day, after finishing his lunch, Kisame looked for the little girl he had helped yesterday out on the playground.

"What are you looking for, Kisame? The soccer field's that way!" Zabuza joked from beside him.

"That little girl from yesterday."

Zabuza frowned. "Ameyuri?"

"No! The one with the dinosaur book, you know?"

"Ohhhhhh… _that_ girl." Zabuza said. "Why?"

Kisame shrugged. "I dunno. I just wanna know if she's okay, I guess."

"Of course she is. You took her to the nurse, didn't you? Besides, her mommy probably gave her a bowl of ice cream or something when she got home. She'll be fine. Quit worrying about it, it's not cool to worry about girls. They can take care of themselves."

"Hey! Are you guys comin'?" Jinin called over to them.

"Race ya!" Zabuza said and darted off in the direction of the playground. Zabuza had always been faster than Kisame, running low to the ground and able to duck and weave through the other kids like he was a ghost or something. If he wanted to rob a bank, he probably could. But that was okay with Kisame. Zabuza may have been fast, but Kisame was stronger than Zabuza. If the competition for the day was arm wrestling, Kisame would win, hands down!

"I win!" Zabuza declared once he reached the soccer field.

Kisame smiled. "Yeah, by like, this much." He said, holding his thumb and pointer finger so close together that there was barely any space left in between.

"No, more like this much times a billion!" Zabuza said, stretching out his arms as far as they could go.

"Would you guys shut up and get in your position already?" Suikazan asked. Suikazan was a big kid. A really big kid. You would think that he wouldn't be any good at a fast-paced, action packed game such a soccer, but he was. He was not only quick, but he used his weight to his advantage, knocking down whatever opponents were in his way and squeezing the ball between his fat legs with so much force that nobody could kick it out from underneath him. Unless they kicked him in the private parts. Then it was a different story.

About ten minutes into the game, Kisame noticed the little girl sitting on the swing set trying to get enough momentum to swing as high as the older kids were.

"Kisame! Get the ball!" Zabuza called out to him.

"Hold on a minute! Time out!" Kisame said and ran off the field in the direction of the swing sets.

"Time out?! You can't call a time out!" Ameyuri whined. "Time in! Let's go! Kisame can jump back in whenever he wants! Recess doesn't last forever you know!"

"Whatcha doing?" Kisame asked the little girl when he reached the swings.

"Swinging." The little girl replied.

"That's cool. Where's your book? I don't see it lying around today." Kisame said.

The little girl took several quick steps backward and attempted to jump onto the swing only to miss the seat and kick up a few wood chips. "My mommy said that I shouldn't bring it out to reswess anymore so that I don't bend it again." She said.

"You told her about that?" Kisame asked.

The little girl nodded and walked to the edge of the rut caused by kids kicking up enough momentum to swing and took several steps backwards only to miss the seat again. "Yeah." She said and looked longingly at the other kids who were swinging so high that the chains were level with the top beam of the equipment.

"Wanna play soccer with me and my friends?" Kisame asked her.

The little girl seemed confused by this request and looked at Kisame with a look of dread. "Not wreally." She said and shook her head.

"Come on!" Kisame said, gesturing to the field where the rest of his friends were playing. "It'll be fun! Come on!" He said, and took the little girl by the wrist.

"Hey guys, can she play with us too?" Kisame asked his friends. When they didn't hear him, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Hey! I said, can she play with us too?"

"What did you say?" Jinpachi asked him.

"I said, can she play with us too?" He repeated and looked to where the little girl was standing…or used to be standing. He turned around to find her hiding behind him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't wanna play soccer." She murmured.

"I told you, it'll be fun!" Kisame said.

The little girl clasped to Kisame's shirt and shook her head. "Hn-hn."

"See? She doesn't want to play!" Jinin said.

"Yeah she does!" Kisame smiled. "Come on, guys, we don't have an even number of players and if we add her to the game, we'll have an even number!"

"We have an even number since you ran off and we aren't even playing with teams." Ameyuri said.

"Besides, no girls allowed!" Zabuza said only to be brutally kicked in the shin by Ameyuri. "Oh! That really hurt, Ameyuri and I didn't mean you! You're like one of us!"

"Say something stupid like that one more time, Zabuza and I'm going to kick you in the private parts next! Got it?!"

Zabuza nodded. "Listen Kisame, either she wants to play or she doesn't. Tell her to make up her mind or we're going to start playing again. You've got ten seconds."

"I don't wanna play." The little girl whined. "I want to swing."

Kisame looked over to Zabuza who was loudly counting down, waiting for an answer, and crouched down to meet the little girl's large black eyes. "Okay. How about, if you play with my friends and me, I'll push you on the swing tomorrow!"

The little girl's eyes widened. "Really?"

Kisame nodded. "Really."

"Promise?" She asked him.

"Three and a half, two, two and a half…" Zabuza slowly counted.

"Promise!" Kisame agreed.

The little girl held out her pinky. "Pinky promise?"

Kisame nodded and interlocked his large little finger with hers. "Pinky promise. So are you in?"

She nodded.

"She's in!" Kisame declared and ushered his new friend out onto the playing field.

"Fine." Zabuza grunted. "Do you even know her name though?"

"Of course I do!" Kisame said and whispered to the little girl "Hey, what's your name by the way?"

"Itachi." She answered.

"Itachi?" Kisame asked. A small nod confirmed it. "Her name's Itachi!"

"Yeah, after she told you!" Kushimaru yelled.

"Oh whatever!" Kisame said and took his position. "Let's start already! Itachi, you're on me and Zabuza's team, you stand over there."

"But she said that we weren't playing with teams…"

"We aren't, but you're on me and Zabuza's team, got it? He's Zabuza by the way." He said, pointing to the short haired skinny kid wearing the black tank top with oversized arm holes and baggy black shorts. "Ready?" He asked.

Itachi nodded.

And the game commenced. In a typical school yard fashion, Jinin kicked the ball from outside the playing field into play as they had done in gym class he said, and everyone started running after it in one, large mass. All of them knew that it would be a good idea for somebody to stand at the other end of the field to protect the other goal, but everyone wanted in on the action. It was always fun, in Kisame's opinion, to try to be the first person to make it to the ball and to try to kick it away from anyone else who tried. But what was more fun was when everyone started kicking the ball at the same time until it popped up through the middle or out from underneath of somebody's legs and nobody knew where it went until somebody shouted "there it is! Over there!" And the chaos started right back up again.

But there were points in the game where there wasn't a constant huddle around the ball. This usually happened when either Mangetsu kicked it from the goalie's net or when Ameyuri kicked it. For a girl, she was really good at kicking the ball really, really, REALLY far. She kicked it so far, that it usually looked like lightening!

Suikazan currently had the ball stuck between his legs when Ameyuri kicked him in the shin (on purpose probably), causing him to scream in pain while she kicked the ball in the direction of her team's goal.

"Get it, Zabuza!" Kisame called out.

And just like earlier, Zabuza sprinted in the direction of the ball, racing to get to it before the other team could kick it into their goal and stopped it with the sole of his foot. He kicked it towards Kisame, who was waving his arms to gain Zabuza's attention, until Kushimaru kicked it in the opposite direction again to Ameyuri who was waiting a few feet away from Zabuza to send it home.

Zabuza ran towards the ball at the same time that Ameyuri did, quickly followed by Kisame who wanted in on the action now, along with the rest of the team. Eventually, Zabuza was able to kick it away from Ameyuri towards Kisame who kicked it away from the huddle and then ran after it. Of course Ameyuri was able to dart past him in next to no time, followed by…Itachi?

"Get it, Itachi!" Kisame called and ran faster to act as support. It seemed like a good idea to include Itachi in the game at the time, but Kisame forgot how brutal their games could get. Just today, Ameyuri kicked Suikazan in the shin and it looked like Zabuza had tripped a couple of times judging by the grass stains on his hands and knees.

It was bad enough that Itachi had to go to the nurses' office yesterday for two scraped knees. He could only imagine what the nurse would think if he came back a second time after getting kick in the shins by Ameyuri.

But to Kisame's surprise, Itachi was able to keep up with Ameyuri and even more, surprisingly, avoid her ruthless kicks and send the ball flying past Mangetsu and into the goal.

"What the—?" Ameyuri balked when she saw the ball crash against the netting.

"She did better than Ameyuri!" Jinin exclaimed.

"She's faster than Zabuza too!" Suikazan commented.

"Nuh-uh! I'm faster than everybody here!" Zabuza cried in his defense.

"New game!" Ameyuri yelled when Mr. Hatake blew the whistle for the third graders to return to class.

The team, which was entirely comprised of third graders, except for Itachi, let out a collective groan.

"That's the whistle." Kisame said to Itachi. "Gotta go. And hey, you did really good today. You're the only girl I know besides Ameyuri who's good at sports!" He said.

"Wait!" Itachi said, and ran to catch up with Kisame. "Can I tell you something really qwuickwly?" Itachi asked.

"Sure, but do it fast because I gotta get to class!" Kisame said. "My teacher already threatened to call my mom if I was late like that ever again!"

"I'm not a girl."

"Wait, what?" Kisame asked.

"I'm a boy." Itachi said.

At that moment, Zabuza appeared from behind Kisame with a smirk. "Man. That's awkward, Kisame." He said and pat his friend on the shoulder a few times. "Now let's go before you and I get in trouble with the teacher!"

-8-8-8-

"Hi honey!" Mikoto cooed when her son exited the school entrance at the end of the day. She knelt down on one knee to embrace her bundle of joy who ran into her embrace when he saw her. "How was school today?" She asked him with a kiss on the forehead.

"Good!" Itachi told her.

"That's good!" She parotted with a wide smile and rose to a stand. "How are your knees feeling? Do they still hurt?" She asked.

Itachi took her outstretched hand and held it as they crossed the parking lot. "A little bit. But only when I run rweally rweally fast."

"Oh? Were you running really really fast today?"

Itachi nodded. "I played soccer with my fwiends' fwiends today!" He said.

"Really? That was nice of him to let you play with them. Did you have fun?"

Itachi nodded. "Mommy? Can I ask you a qwestion?"

"Hm-hm! Sure thing, honey! What do you want to ask?"

Itachi gave her his book bag so that she could put it in the car before helping him inside. "Can boys have long hair too?"

Mikoto took his book bag from him and frowned. "Of course, sweetheart! Where did you get that idea from?"

Itachi shrugged and climbed into the car. "Nowhere."

Mikoto smirked as she buckled Itachi in but did not force the issue. "Did you tell your friend that you're not a girl today?"

"Hm-hm!" Itachi answered.

"That's good!" Mikoto smiled and shut the car door behind her. "See? I told you he'd still want to be friends with you even if you weren't a girl."

Itachi nodded, though he wasn't so sure that his new friend would still want to hang out with him if he was a boy. After all, all boys were good at soccer. But not all girls were. And now that Kisame knew that he wasn't a girl, he might not think that Itachi was so special anymore.

* * *

 **[A/N]:** So confession time; I have about 73% of an idea as to where I am going with this. As you can see, that is a pretty good percentage. However, I'm still trying to find the perfect balance that I'm looking for. For instance, the storytelling is meant to be simple and read sort of like a children's book. Or should I say, that it is supposed to sound like Kisame's childlike voice but in the 3rd person...(whichever one makes the most sense). But I get the feeling that I'm rambling a little bit by using this particular method...I also wasn't planning on doing Itachi's side of the story at the end like I did last time and am not sure if I'll continue to add those bits at the end, but I like where it's leading me, so I might continue on that trail...(if I didn't, how would we ever know Itachi's side of the story? It's important to the plot, you see!)

Any who, tell me your thoughts and I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time~

Sasori33-001


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm updating this frequently because it's easy to write, I enjoy writing it, the plot is pretty simple so far, and thus, it doesn't take long to crank out a chapter. If I had more time on my hands, I would spend more of it working on other stories I haven't updated in a while *cough* all of them *cough* *cough* but sadly, it takes more thought, more words, more description, more effort, more planning, and more importantly, more time to update them and I will work on them whenever I get the chance (and believe me, I am planning a little here and there as well as writing but not enough to come up with a finished product) so I just wanted to let you all know the reason for my actions.

Thanks for understanding and I hope you enjoy the chapter I've written for you!

* * *

 **-Chapter Three-**

 **"But I Wanna Swing"**

"Hey, Kisame!" Jinpachi, the kid with the white mom and Jamaican dad, asked Kisame the next day. "Is your girlfriend gonna play with us again today?" He snickered.

Kisame shot Zabuza a look. He was the only person who heard Itachi say that he wasn't a girl yesterday so he had to have been the one to tell the rest of the group that Kisame thought otherwise before that day. "I don't know. Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"But I don't know her as well as you do!" He snickered.

Kisame ignored him and stalked over to Zabuza. "Why did you tell everyone?"

"Tell everyone what?" Zabuza asked.

Kisame looked around to make sure that nobody was listening and muttered "That I thought that Itachi was a girl."

"I didn't tell them."

"Then who did?"

Zabuza shrugged. "Like I know! Maybe Jinpachi did. I mean, he has a big mouth and all…"

"It couldn't have been Jinpachi because he was nowhere near when Itachi told us that he was a boy." Kisame explained. "You and I were the only ones who heard him say that so it had to have been you!"

"How do you know that no one else was listening, Kisame? Are you Suikazan? Ameyuri? Jinpachi? Jinin? Mangetsu?"

"No, but I get it, okay!"

"Kushimaru?"

"I said I get it already! Would you shut up!?"

"What?" Kushimaru asked.

"Go away, nobody asked you." Zabuza spat.

"But you said my name!"

Zabuza turned to face him. "Well maybe you should get your ears checked because I didn't say your name!"

"Do you know if my new friend is a boy or a girl?" Kisame asked Kushimaru, effectively subverting what could have resulted in a fist fight or a swift kick to the privates.

"You mean your girlfriend who isn't really a girl?" Kushimaru answered.

Kisame frowned. "Who told you that?"

"Zabuza." Kushimaru said and just like that, Zabuza threw a punch at Kushimaru's gut which Kushimaru narrowly avoided. "Hey! What did I do!?"

"You told me that you didn't tell anybody!" Kisame cried and punched Zabuza in the shoulder.

Zabuza retaliated by kicking Kisame in the shin and shooting Kushimaru a dirty look. "Cuz I didn't! Kushimaru's a dirty liar!"

"No I'm not!"

"It doesn't matter who told who that your boyfriend wasn't a girl, Kisame. Is he playing with us today or not?" Jinin asked them.

Kisame opened his mouth but before he could utter an answer, Ameyuri stepped in. "We don't need another player because we have an even amount of players already!"

"You're just mad because a little kid's faster than you are." Zabuza said.

"No I'm not!"

"Is he playing or not, Kisame?" Jinin asked.

"I don't think so…" Kisame answered, remembering how he promised to push Itachi on the swing today for playing with them yesterday. Even yesterday, he didn't seem to be too thrilled with the aspect of playing soccer with a bunch of third graders…

"Can you ask him?" Jinin pressed.

"But we already have an even number!" Ameyuri continued to whine.

"Shut up, Ameyuri! Think of it like a rematch!" Zabuza said, cracking his knuckles. "I know _I_ want a rematch."

Kisame had his doubts about this. "I don't know guys—"

"Is that him?" Kushimaru asked, pointing towards the school.

"Go ask him, Kisame!" Jinin urged.

"Do it, Kisame!" Zabuza jumped in.

"We already have enough players!" Ameyuri protested with a groan when she realized that nobody was listening to her.

"I guess I'll ask him." Kisame relented when it was clear that he wasn't going to get out of this without asking Itachi to join them. He considered pretending to ask him if he wanted to play with them, even though he knew that the answer would be no. And even if he did ask, he wouldn't be able to return to the game. He'd promised Itachi that he would push him on the swings.

Kisame relented even though he already knew what Itachi's answer would be. And even then he would still have to push Itachi on the swings, which wouldn't go down well with his friends. But if he played soccer with his friends, Itachi's feelings would be hurt.

"My friends wanna know if you want to play with us again today." Kisame said.

Itachi pressed his eyebrows together in confusion. "But you said you were going to push me on the swings today."

"I know, but my friends really want you to play soccer with us again today." Kisame explained.

"But you pwomised…"

"I know, and I tried to tell them that you wanted to play on the swings, but they wouldn't listen."

Itachi bowed his head. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"I'll pway soccer."

"You will?"

Itachi nodded.

"Is he playing?" Suikazan asked.

Kisame nodded proudly as if Itachi were his own son, heading out onto the field as if he was bringing home the gold. "Yup!"

"Alright, ladies, get into your positions!" Ameyuri called to the rest of the team. "Mangetsu, get your butt into the goal, same to you, Jinin!"

"Why am I always the goalie?" Mangetsu whined.

"Because you suck at kicking and running!" Ameyuri told him. "Zabuza, Kisame, and new kid, you're on the same team. Suikazan, Jinpachi, and Kushimaru, you're on my team."

Itachi tugged on Kisame's shirt. "But they have more people than we do."

"That's because they're gonna need it going up against us." Kisame smiled back at him. "Now get ready, the games are about to begin…"

"Ready?" Jinin asked from the goal and kicked the ball into the middle of the field.

Immediately, Ameyuri pushed past Jinpachi and Suikazan and kicked the ball away from Zabuza in the direction of the opposite goal followed by both Jinpachi, Kushimaru, and Suikazan who had fallen behind. Like always, Zabuza pushed forward so that he was neck and neck with Ameyuri and racing to get the ball away from her.

Kisame, who was running after them, looked around for Itachi, who was standing on the far end of the field by their goal. "What are you doing? The game already started!"

"I know!"

"Shouldn't you be getting the ball away from Ameyuri?"

Itachi shook his head causing his long bangs to sway back and forth slightly. "Somebody has to protect the goal!"

Kisame opened his mouth to argue with Itachi further but decided against it, pivoting on his heel to catch up with the action instead. However, as soon as he took three steps, the flow of the game had changed so that everybody was racing towards the goal that Itachi was guarding.

"Kushimaru!" Ameyuri cried and kicked the ball towards her teammate's direction and out of Zabuza's reach.

Kushimaru, who was focused entirely on Ameyuri and Zabuza, kept running and accidentally kicked the ball in Itachi's direction.

"Kushimaru, you idiottttttt!" Ameyuri screamed and raced to regain the ball from Itachi.

But it was too late. Itachi ran a few steps, brought his right leg back and sent the ball flying over Mangetsu's head – something that Kisame had a hard time doing intentionally – and maybe Itachi didn't mean to kick it that high, but it didn't matter. The ball went in, thus scoring them a point.

"Itachi, you did it!" Kisame shouted and ran to ruffle his little friend's hair.

"Hey!" Itachi protested, hurriedly running his hands over his head to fix it. But beneath his bangs, Kisame saw a wide smile taking shape.

"He just got lucky." Zabuza grunted.

"OW! Ameyurrriiiiii! That hurt!" Kushimaru whined.

"You idiot! Why did you kick it towards your own goal!?"

"I didn't mean to! I didn't expect you to kick it to me! You never kick it to anyone!"

"Well today I decided to kick it to you, which was a stupid idea since you obviously can't kick!"

"I didn't know that you were going to kick it to me though! That's not fair!"

Kisame chuckled at his friend's antics and looked to see if his new friend found them to be as funny as Kisame did. But Itachi wasn't paying attention to Ameyuri and Kushimaru. Instead, his attention was focused on the swing set that he had given up in favor of Kisame's soccer game with his friends.

"Let's go! New game! Everyone in their positions!" Ameyuri called out, waving her arms all around to gain everyone's attention.

"Wanna play another game?" Kisame asked Itachi.

Itachi, still staring at the swings, which currently held two vacant spots, nodded slowly. "Hm-hm."

"Awesome!" Kisame grinned. "Get ready!"

-8-8-8-

"Did your friend push you on the swing today, sweetie?"

Itachi shook his head.

"No?" Mikoto frowned. "Why not? I thought that Kisame was going to push you on the swings during recess today? Did something change?"

"I wanted to pway soccer with him and his fwiends instead." Itachi told her.

"Did you have fun playing soccer with Kisame's friends?" She asked and was pleased when her son happily nodded in response. "Well that's good, honey! All that matters is that you had fun today and didn't get hurt!"

Itachi nodded. He liked that Kisame still wanted to play with him even though he wasn't a girl like he thought he was. He also liked that Kisame's friends wanted to play with him too. As much as he liked having lots of friends, he really wanted to swing today. So much so that he told his mommy about it in the car yesterday afternoon, before bed last night and again this morning. He had been patiently waiting all morning for recess to come so that Kisame could push him on the swings like he promised he would, but instead, Itachi ended up playing soccer with him and his friends again.

But for the rest of the day, Itachi wondered if Kisame would ever push him on the swings like he said he would.

Mikoto noted the melancholy look on her son's face as she glanced at the rearview mirror and said "Maybe you can ask Kisame to push you on the swings tomorrow?"

Itachi nodded. She was right. There was always tomorrow. He just hoped that Kisame's friends wouldn't be mad at him when he told them he wanted to play on the swings instead of soccer with them. More importantly, he hoped that Kisame would keep his promise and push him like he said he would.

* * *

Until next time~

Sasori33-001


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** *sigh* Goodness gracious! Three stories updated within the last 2 days, 1 more to go (for those of you who read The Perfect Gentleman, the last story on my list, don't get your hopes high, I have revision to do! X(((( But anyways, this chapter wasn't challenging to write but at the same time, it was. I started it several weeks back and had to pick up where I left off and although I'm trying to keep the vocabulary simple (as it is an Elementary KisaIta - it's only fitting), I've been doing a lot of reading lately and I think it's been improving my writing, but it's hard not to change styles halfway through a chapter (in short, I had to dumb down my writing to match the first part of the chapter if that makes sense). So I hope this chapter satisfies your need for the most innocent type of KisaIta you can get!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **-Chapter Four-**

 **"Ameyuri Play Fair!"**

"Get it, Jinpachi!" Ameyuri ordered from her spot just before her team's goal. "Kushimaru! Get the ball away from him!" But it didn't matter anymore. Kisame was close enough where she could easily run up and kick the ball away from him and tear down the field to the opposite goal.

But as soon as she was within two feet of him, he kicked the ball in Itachi's direction, who immediately ran a few feet with it and kicked it into the goal, earning their team a point.

"Weren't you guarding the goal, Ameyuri?" Kushimaru asked.

"I was and stepped away from it for three seconds when he kicked it to newbie and they scored a point." She said and pointed an accusatory finger in Mangetsu's direction. "It's Mangetsu's fault for not being a better goalie!"

"Well if I'm such a bad goalie, why don't you be goalie then, Ameyuri?!" Mangetsu yelled.

"Because our team wouldn't score any points with you on the field!" She argued. "Let's go again!"

The rest of the gang obeyed and got back into their positions – Ameyuri guarding her team's goal for whatever reason, Kisame didn't know, Suikazan a little closer to the middle of the field and Kushimaru and Jinpachi at the center line facing Itachi and Kisame with Zabuza hanging close to their own goal. "Why are you standing so far away, Zabuza?" Kisame asked him.

"I want to make sure that nobody gets close to our goal." Zabuza answered.

Although he thought it was odd, especially for Zabuza, who always wanted to be in the spotlight all the time, Kisame let it be and focused his attention on the game being played.

When Suikazan and Kisame counted down from three to start the game, Kisame immediately kicked it past Suikazan and was able to run halfway up the field when Jinpachi approached him and kicked the ball past him and towards Kushimaru.

At this point, Kisame watched Zabuza's eyes track the ball as Kushimaru passed it to Jinpachi, who kicked it towards their goal only for Zabuza to kick it away and tear down the right side of the field with it. "Pass it! Pass it!" Kisame called out but Zabuza wasn't listening to him. "Zabuza! Pass it already!"

Zabuza barely made it up the field before Suikazan approached him and the two kicked the ball back and forth in small bursts. Eventually Kushimaru and Kisame joined and after what felt like forever, Suikazan kicked the ball between Zabuza's legs and towards the goal. Unfortunately for Ameyuri's team, the ball rolled close enough to the goalie's net for Jinin to kick it away from the goal towards Itachi who had been standing away from the vicious huddle, waiting for the right time to swoop in like he always did and lead his team to victory.

"Itachi! Pass it over here! I'm open!" Kisame called out as Suikazan ran to keep up with him.

"Hold on!" Itachi called back.

 _Why wasn't anybody passing the ball to him?_ Kisame wondered. First Zabuza, who was a ball hog to begin with and now Itachi. And just as Itachi was within feet of Ameyuri who was grin was wider than the Cheshire Cat's, he called out "Kisame!" and kicked it to him, to Ameyuri confusion.

Kisame easily intercepted the ball and continued running. Ameyuri was still getting her bearings when Itachi passed the ball to Kisame at the last second, Kushimaru was running from Itachi to Kisame but was still far away, Jinpachi nearly collided with Kushimaru, causing him to slip and fall on his stomach and Suikazan was hot on his trail. With a swift kick, the ball flew past Mangetsu who clumsily dove to prevent it from going in and failed miserably.

"Yes!" Kisame silently cheered to himself and hi-fived Itachi. "Thanks for passing it to me."

"That's what teamwork's all about." Itachi said.

At the other end of the field, Zabuza kicked the goal post and let out a sharp cry. "Hey! What'd that goalpost ever do to you, Zabuza?" Kisame asked him.

Zabuza glared at him and gently set his injured foot back on solid ground. "Nothing." He muttered and walked to the center of the field were Ameyuri was standing. And she did _not_ look very happy.

When Itachi arrived to the playing field the next day, Ameyuri called everyone to gather in the middle. "New teams! Mangetsu, Suikazan, Kushimaru, Zabuza and I will be on one team and Kisame, Jinpachi, Jinin, and the new kid will be on the other team."

"That's not fair!" Kisame called out. "Everyone knows that you and Zabuza are the best players here! You can't _both_ be on the same team!"

"Well since the new kid's so good," She explained, "I figured 'why not level up the playing field'? You'll be fine."

While Itachi was better than some of the other kids here, Kisame wasn't sure if he liked the idea of both Ameyuri and Zabuza being on the same side. For one, they were both competitive, and they both hated to lose. And he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but lately, both of them had been acting strangely.

"The game's about to start." Itachi whispered to him.

Kisame whispered a quick thanks in return and assumed a position in front Ameyuri. She looked like a wolf who hadn't eaten in days, not because she was skinny (which she was, you just couldn't tell by the baggy sweatshirts she always wore), but because she was baring her teeth and licking her lips like a wild animal does before feasting upon its prey.

"One, two, three!" Ameyuri and Kisame said and unison before fighting over the ball.

Ameyuri quickly gained the upper hand and kicked the ball past Kisame. Zabuza immediately darted after it, followed closely by Itachi whose job was to guard Zabuza this game. And to Kisame's surprise, Itachi was able to match Zabuza's speed.

Ameyuri ran after them as well, apparently tired of guarding her team's goal post and Kisame ran after her. He watched as Itachi ran just a little faster, kicking the ball to Jinpachi. Jinpachi was able to briefly intercept and kick it away from their goal and towards Ameyuri's goal. Before Kisame could process what was happening, Ameyuri, Itachi and Zabuza were running in the direction of the opposite goal.

Kisame quickly mobilized into action before Suikazan and Kushimaru could react, heading down the field as well. If he learned anything from Itachi, it was that everyone didn't have to be in the same place in a soccer game. _"The person who stayed behind the pack was just as important as the person leading it"_ he'd told him the other day. But Kisame had a bad feeling about this game. Ameyuri had been attempting to be like Itachi during the past few games they played and was bested by Itachi in some way or another. Zabuza too, tried to be like Itachi, staying behind to protect his team's goal and got frustrated when he didn't get enough of the action.

A few feet ahead of him, Itachi was running with the ball. Seconds later, he was on the ground and Ameyuri was running in the opposite direction of the ball with Suikazan and Jinpachi and Kushimaru trailing behind her.

But Kisame couldn't care less about them and walked over to where Itachi was picking himself up from the ground. "Are you okay?" He asked.

From behind, Kisame could hear Ameyuri and her team cheering as they scored a point.

Itachi shook his head and rose to his feet to examine his knees. "She tripped me."

"Ameyuri?" Kisame asked.

"What are you guys doing? Ameyuri just scored a point!" Jinpachi called out to them.

"I know, I know!" Kisame called back and raised his hands to call a time-out when Itachi grabbed his elbow. "What's wrong? I was going to call a time-out and ask Ameyuri why she tripped you."

Itachi shook his head. "I don't feel like playing soccer anymore."

"Why not?" Kisame asked. When he looked closely, the rims of Itachi's eyes were glazed over with tears.

"I want to swing." He said and wandered off the field in the direction of the main playground.

"Where's he going?" Zabuza asked.

Ameyuri ran past him and called out "It doesn't matter because now the teams are even! Besides, the little brat thought that he was better than the rest of us anyways." She muttered.

At that moment, Kisame ran after the ball Ameyuri was pursuing and kicked it off the field. "You're wrong, Ameyuri." Kisame said, earning a few gasps from the rest of his friends. "Itachi didn't think he was better than anyone."

"Yeah he did!" Zabuza cried. "I don't care if he's younger than the rest of us! Who does he think he is trying to show us up like that?"

"Let me set the record straight." Kisame yelled so that everyone could hear him. "Itachi didn't think that he was better than anyone. In fact, he didn't even _like_ to play. He only did it because you guys asked him too and now you're jealous because he was better than everyone else, including you, Ameyuri and Zabuza."

"No he wasn't!" Ameyuri yelled back but her refusal to look Kisame in the eyes told him that she knew that Itachi was better than both her _and_ Zabuza combined if they were playing fairly, which Ameyuri was not. And deep down inside, she knew she wasn't playing fairly too. "Whatever. If he doesn't want to play, then fine. We don't need him." She finally said. "Come on guys, let's start back-up where we left off."

"Where are _you_ going, Kisame?" Suikazan asked him as he walked off the field like Itachi had done moments earlier.

"I don't feel like playing soccer anymore." He said.

-8-8-8-

"Mommy! Mommy! Guess what!" Itachi said when he saw his mother standing in the front courtyard of the school with car keys in hand.

Mikoto opened her arms wide to embrace her bouncing bundle of energy and was about to crouch down to his level when Itachi crashed into her legs. "What? What?" She asked with a wide smile.

"Kisame pushed me on the swings today!"

"He did!?" Mikoto enthused.

Itachi nodded excitedly. "He pushed me higher than father ever did!"

"Oh my goodness that's great, sweetheart! That's wonderful!" She said and took his hand in her own. "You sound like you had fun today!"

Itachi nodded. It was the most fun he'd had since the school year started. "Maybe he'll want to push me again tomorrow!"

Mikoto chuckled softly and opened the door to the back seat for Itachi to climb in. "If you ask him really nicely, I'm sure he will, honey."

* * *

 **Yay! It's finished and for the love of God, Kisame finally pushed that boy on the swings! *tears***

 **I hope that the chapter length is okay. For those of you who read my other fic, Parallel Lines, I hope to make the chapters of this story about the same length (1,000 - 3,000 words each) and for those of you who don't read Parallel Lines, you get the gist.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reads/reviews my work! I am truly grateful towards you!**

 **Until next time!**

 **~Sasori33-001**


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